Translation Team

Kesirin Tanwongpraser  | Thai

Kesirin was born in Bangkok, Thailand. She later moved to California with her family when she was twelve years old. She received her bachelor degree of Hospitality Management and and minored in International Marketing, from Cal State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She later received her Master Degree in Education from Azusa Pacific University. She is proud to have translated for the 26 Seconds Documentary, after realizing how global the issue of sex-trafficking is for children and women across the world.

Paul Phromthong  | Thai

Paul Phromthong is BFA as a Creative Producing Major at Dodge College of Film & Media Arts and is completed a Law Minor at Chapman University. Paul grew up in the Bay Area of Palo Alto, CA., where he first found his love for movies. He has produced several student short films spanning a variety of different genres and developed and produced his senior thesis at Dodge College of Film & Media Arts. Paul was proud to be  able to utilize his first language Thai on the 26 Seconds translation team.

Anjana Vadivel | Tamil

 Anjana Vadivel was born in the state of Tamilnadu, India. She graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communications major. Anjana came to US in 2014 as a Computer Engineering graduate student at University of California, Irvine. After graduation, she started to work as a Software Developer in an AV product manufacturing firm. Anjana is involved in various ministries at church and is honored to be part of the 26 Seconds Translation team. As it offers a platform for the victims to share their stories of restoration and healing.

Kimhorn Lay | Khmer

Kim Lay was born in Cambodia and was separated from her family when she was five years old. She was a refugee in Thailand with her uncle and his family for nine years. Afterwards she moved to the United States and many years later she went back to Cambodia and saw a great need for children's education. She is now part of a team that provides education for children in Cambodia. Kim is honored to be part of the translation team on the 26 Seconds documentary by giving a voice to the children that need to be heard.

  Sonia Shah | Hindi

Born and raised in India, Sonia is fluent in three languages, English, Gujrati and Hindi. Sonia migrated to the United States in 1982 and pursued Masters of Architecture from Rice University. She is a trained classical Indian dancer(Bharatnatyam) and has participated in several stage performances under the guidance of famed dance choreographer Shyambhai Mithaiwala, Rathna Kumar and directors Anandroa Lingayat and Kelly Galindo. She continues to sharpen her skills by pursuing the most challenging acting roles and working with most excting directors.

  Prateek Damodaren | Hindi

Prateek Damodaren earned his masters degree in cinematography at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. He has been making films since he was 19 years old, during which time he was pursuing an undergraduate degree in Economics at Delhi University. He has a passion for art, social work and philosophy. Film making is a source of satisfaction for Prateek and he has professional experience through internships on feature films and television shows in India and in the US. In the future Prateek sees himself as an independent film maker.​

Claudia Amador | Spanish

Claudia was born in Mexico City and earned her bachelor's degree in international business with experience in imports, exports, purchasing, sales, and logistics. She loves learning about other cultures and helping those in need. After learning about 26 Seconds, she wanted to be a part of raising awareness about the devastating issue of human trafficking.  She volunteered to help translate the interviews from Mexico City and was touched by the testimonies of heroic survivors and the noble efforts of the NGO's that are helping others still in captivity and survivors in the process of restoration and healing.
 

Zamara Jimenez | Spanish

Zamara grew up in Tijuana Mexico till the age of 13 and then moved with her family to San Diego where she started her acting career. She has played a diverse amount of characters as a Latina actress. After obtaining her B.A. in Acting from UCLA, Zamara continues to work hard in portraying characters that will help the audience understand and care for people from all walks of life. She is very grateful to be part of 26 Seconds and hopes that by shedding some light on human trafficking, it will result in the rescuing and restoring the lives of the victims and survivors.

Rozh Salih | Kurdish - Sinjari dialect

Roj Salih was born in Kurdistan Northern Iraq. He studied English literature and is multilingual in Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and English. In 2014, ISIS attacked southern Iraq and many women and children were abducted, the boys being used as ISIS fighters and the girls being used as sex slaves. Roj is honored and proud to be translating for the 26 Seconds Documentary so the voices of the children and women survivors from Iraq can be heard around the world. 

Sardar Abdullah | Kurdish - Sorani dialect

Sardar Abdullah was born in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. He graduated with a Bachelor degree in political science and since has worked with many different western media outlets as a translator around the region and North of Iraq. Sardar seeks to deliver a clear voice of the people who experienced the horrific acts of ISIS that were committed against the civilians and the Yazidi women and children. It has been a great honor to be apart of the  translation team for the 26 Seconds documentary.

Sophie Yang | French

Sophie Yang is a PR and Advertising Major at Dodge College of Film & Media Arts at Chapman University. The 26 Seconds short documentary had won the Indie Shorts Cannes Film Festival and needed French subtitles last minute. We were thrilled to find Sophie, who spoke fluent French to help us translate and update the subtitles for the Cannes Film Festival . Sophie was eager to share her French language in such and important film on Global Sex trafficking and giving survivors a voice. 

Juliet Nsiimye | Luganda

​Juliet is currently working with seniors with dementia and alzheimer’s disease.  She is driven by helping individuals, families and groups of people to cope with problems they are facing. She graduated with a B.A Social Sciences before she earned her Masters degree in Public health.  Previously, she has worked with international NGO’s in rural areas of Asia and Africa on projects of rehabilitating ex-drug users, and several projects for people affected by HIV and AIDS. Juliet has a passion for humanitarian work and is honored to be on the  translation team for the 26 Seconds documentary giving a voice to the women and girls around the world.

Ridhi Bhalla |​ Hindi
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Ridhi was born in New Delhi, India and has been an ardent fan of photography from a very young age. She is currently pursuing her masters degree in Film Production with an emphasis in Cinematography from Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. Her love for documentary filmmaking stems from her passion for bringing real life stories forward and help as many communities as possible. ​